Gulf AI plans hit by cheap drones
Analysis warns that the Gulf’s ambitions for AI campuses and data‑centre expansion face a new physical risk from low‑cost drones that can threaten critical infrastructure. The piece frames the problem as a mismatch between capital‑intensive digital assets and inexpensive physical threats to their resilience (foreignpolicy.com).
The Gulf’s push to build giant artificial intelligence campuses now faces a cheaper threat: small drones can menace facilities that cost billions to construct. (foreignpolicy.com) Foreign Policy reported on April 15 that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are emerging as major artificial intelligence compute hubs outside the United States, even as low-cost drones reshape the security math around those sites. The analysis was written by Yasir Atalan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (foreignpolicy.com) The buildout is large and concrete. OpenAI said its Stargate United Arab Emirates project in Abu Dhabi is planned as a 1 gigawatt cluster, with 200 megawatts expected to go live in 2026, alongside partners G42, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco, and SoftBank. (openai.com) Microsoft and G42 said in November 2025 that they would add 200 megawatts of data-center capacity in the United Arab Emirates through Khazna Data Centers, with capacity expected to start coming online before the end of 2026. (news.microsoft.com) Saudi Arabia is making a parallel bet. NEOM and DataVolt said in February 2025 that they would develop a 1.5 gigawatt artificial intelligence data-center project at Oxagon with an initial investment of $5 billion, and Saudi artificial intelligence company Humain has said its first two 100 megawatt sites in Riyadh and Dammam are due online in 2026. (neom.com) (datacenterdynamics.com) A data center is a warehouse full of servers, power gear, cooling equipment, and fiber links. If a drone damages transformers, substations, cooling plants, or network chokepoints, the computing inside can go dark without the building itself being destroyed. (foreignpolicy.com) The Gulf has already seen what low-cost aerial attacks can do to expensive infrastructure. In September 2019, drones and cruise missiles struck Saudi Aramco facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais, temporarily knocking out about half of Saudi oil production. (bakerinstitute.org) (wikipedia.org) That cost imbalance has sharpened in 2026. AGBI reported in March that Iranian Shahed drones can cost as little as $20,000, while Gulf states were looking at a $2,500 Ukrainian-designed interceptor drone because missile-based air defense is draining stockpiles and money. (agbi.com) (reuters.com) Foreign Policy’s argument is that access to advanced chips and capital is no longer enough on its own. Gulf governments can finance campuses measured in hundreds of megawatts, but the next artificial intelligence deal may also hinge on air defense, hardening, and political guarantees around protection. (foreignpolicy.com) That leaves the region trying to pair digital ambition with old-fashioned site defense. The same states that want to host the world’s next artificial intelligence clusters are being forced to treat power yards, cooling systems, and perimeter security as part of the computing stack. (foreignpolicy.com)
